After a flashy debut, Duke’s DJ Steward has more to prove — starting with Michigan State
Though he started his Duke career as a reserve, DJ Steward immediately placed his name among the best freshman to play for the Blue Devils in his career debut.
Steward’s 24 points in Saturday’s 81-71 season-opening win over Coppin State marked the fourth-highest total by a freshman making his Duke debut.
The other three players ahead of him became millionaires before they were legally allowed to drink alcohol.
RJ Barrett (33 points) and Zion Williamson (28 points) had more when Duke pounded Kentucky 118-84 on Nov. 6, 2018. They were both selected among the top three picks in the 2019 NBA Draft.
Marvin Bagley debuted with 25 points against Elon on Nov. 10, 2017, and was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.
As of now, Steward, a 6-2 guard from Chicago, doesn’t project to be drafted that high by the NBA.
But, thanks to his family, he’s got the right attitude to keep impressing and show he’s worthy of mention along with former Duke stars like Barrett, Williamson and Bagley.
After his impressive game Saturday, when he made 10 of 18 shots (including 4 of 9 3-pointers) to score 24 points with nine rebounds, he heard plenty about staying confident but humble.
“Everyone was proud of me, they congratulated me on a great debut,” Steward said Monday in a Zoom call with reporters. “But they told me never get too high, never get too low and just move on to the next game. Just be ready.”
Coach K’s confidence in DJ Steward
The next game for Duke marks one of its toughest nonconference challenges. No. 8-ranked Michigan State comes to Cameron Indoor Stadium Tuesday night to play the No. 6 Blue Devils.
A Midwestern kid who earned plenty of Big Ten scholarship offers, Steward said Michigan State wasn’t a team that showed much interest in him.
“I talked to an assistant coach,” Steward said. “I think it was my junior year when they came up on me. But then they kinda just went away. But there’s no hard feelings with that. That’s just how it goes with the recruitment.”
Against Coppin State, Steward came off the bench and displayed the ability to score from all over the court -- on jumpers, catch-and-shoot 3-pointers and on drives to the rim. That earned him a spot in Duke’s starting lineup for the second half in place of junior Joey Baker.
“We have a lot of confidence in him,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said following Saturday’s game. “He or Joey could have started but we started our veterans today and started DJ in the second half. He’s a natural scorer. To come up with 24 points in your first collegiate game, that’s a big-time performance by that kid.”
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo told reporters in Michigan on Monday Steward impressed him against Coppin State with his scoring versatility.
“Steward was exceptional in the first game,” he said.
Steward’s stats against Coppin State
Coming off the bench initially helped him get a feel for Coppin State’s defense and locate open areas of the court where he could get scoring opportunities, Steward said.
Of his nine 3-pointers attempted, he took seven in spot-up situations where he found an open spot, took a pass from a teammate and shot without dribbling. He made three of those.
Other times, he drove to the basket when a defender closed out on him to stop a perimeter shot. Steward scored on five of those six shot attempts at the rim, according to analysis by Synergy Sports.
“My dad he always told me, just be positionless,” Steward said. “Play on the ball and off the ball. Just being able to play on and off the ball just gives me different ways to score in a variety of ways and opens up the game.”
Notably, he wasn’t afflicted with the turnover issues many of his teammates displayed. On a day when, much to Krzyzewski’s consternation, Duke turned it over 22 times, Steward committed just one turnover in 33 minutes of play.
More play like that will certainly earn Steward a spot in the starting lineup, which would create opportunities to chase more of those lofty achievements attained by guys like Barrett, Williamson and Bagley as freshmen at Duke.
No. 13 Michigan State at No. 9 Duke
When: 7:30 p.m., Tuesday
Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham
Watch: ESPN
This story was originally published November 30, 2020 at 12:16 PM.